Sierra [gulp] Road [or, WWIT]

This morning’s ride was from the “is this too much too soon?” / “what was Ithinking!” file…OK, maybe just 3.75 of the first 5 miles…

I decided to give Sierra Road a “try” this weekend; even after reading about it on a few blogs, checking route maps and elevations, and test driving it during the week. Oh, did I mention that I haven’t done too much hill training and that I ran a half marathon on Saturday? GO BIG, OR GO HOME!

The plan was to do a 33-mile ride (door-to-door) up Sierra, out to the northern end of Calaveras Reservoir, back to Milpitas, and then home – knowing full well that the first 5 miles would take a fair amount of time and be at a sloooow pace. Having mapped out the course, I was willing to suck for five miles to enjoy the rest of the ride.

I started out early to avoid traffic and other cyclists making the climb (read: avoid embarrassing myself.) I made it up the first incline and stopped. Went a little further, then stopped. I repeated that for a while; but ended up fast walking the bike for several sections in between rides. Not sure if walking the bike is kosher, but I didn’t care. In my mind, forward progress was still progress, regardless of the means…and I was not about to go back down Sierra and reroute that way. I wanted to ride the planned route.

I made it to the summit in about an hour, ending up with avg speeds of 8.4, 5, 4, & 4.5 for miles 2 though 5. After that, it was downhill and rollers – Weeeeee! I ended up with an average speed of 12.8 for the entire ride and had a top speed of 33.5.

When I got to the turn toward Calaveras Reservoir, I looked at the time and decided not to head that way. I opted to do an out-and-back leg to Fremont and extended passed my homeward turn to stretch the ride to 27 miles.

All in all, it was a great and challenging ride. I do need to work on climbing, though I don’t know that I’d ever be able to do Sierra Road without stopping. I think I will come the other direction next time.

Here are some shots I took on the ride. I also had my GoPro mounted on the bike and may post part of that video later this week – sans the walking parts.

Below the cloud cover. Home is down there somewhere…

Backside of Boccardo Peak (I usually run up to there)

Reminded me of the view from Haleakalā

Sunday sunrise on Silicon Valley. (from Sierra Rd summit)

Me taking “Sunday sunrise…” [still from my GoPro]

What a view!

Funny thing: No photos after the Sierra summit. Guess I got my second wind…